'With all due respect': Trump references golf legend's anatomy during rally

(CNN) — Donald Trump has pivoted to making his closing argument to voters heading into the final stretch of his race for the White House.

Or so his campaign said Saturday as the former president took the stage in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

But shortly after walking out following a pro wrestler’s entrance music, Trump swiftly veered into a rambling anecdote about the late Arnold Palmer, the golfing legend after whom the local airport was named. The story, which seemed to serve little purpose beyond invoking a regional icon and which lasted nearly 15 minutes, included tangents on Palmer’s immense wealth and several offhand remarks about the Hall of Famer’s naked body.

“Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women, I love women. … This man was strong and tough, and I refused to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros they came out of there, they said ‘Oh, my God. That’s unbelievable,’” Trump said.

The anecdote prompted one rallygoer to comment, “I didn’t expect to hear that tonight.”

From there, Trump invited to the stage Antonio Brown, a former Pittsburgh Steeler star with a troubling legal background, called his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, a “sh*t vice president,” and attacked mail-in voting as screens urged his supporters to cast absentee ballots early.

Harris, asked about Trump’s comments by the Rev. Al Sharpton on Sunday in a clip from a taped interview on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation,” said that “the American people deserve so much better.”

“That’s how I come at it. And to your point, the president of the United States must set a standard. Not only for our nation but understanding the standard that we as a nation must set for the world,” Harris said.

One of Palmer’s daughters, Peg Palmer Wears, told the Associated Press on Sunday that she thought Trump’s comments about the late golfer were a “poor choice of approaches to remembering my father, but what are you going to do?”

In between the vulgar and bizarre moments at Trump’s rally Saturday were glimpses of a closing pitch. Trump, reading from a teleprompter, told the crowd, “With your support, we’ll bring back our nation’s strength, dominance, prosperity and pride. … This will be America’s new golden age; 100 years from now the presidential election of 2024 will be looked upon as America’s greatest victory.”

At other junctures, though, Trump interrupted his written remarks just as he seemed about to deliver the heart of his campaign’s message, the kind that could be clipped for local Pittsburgh television stations to play on air.

“This election is a choice between whether we will have an incredible four more years of failure — such a horrible four years. Everything they touch turns to — ” Trump said, pausing.

The crowd yelled back the corresponding expletive.

The rally kicked off two days of appearances by Trump in Pennsylvania, a battleground that both campaigns have prioritized both on the airwaves and in their schedules. Trump on Saturday held a town hall outside of Philadelphia. He is also planning to attend the Pittsburgh Steelers game, and he stopped by a McDonald’s to work as a fry cook — a visit intended to troll Harris’ work experience at the Golden Arches.

Ahead of the Latrobe event, Trump’s campaign suggested the former president would begin to tailor his message to match the urgency of the moment and a contrast of the two candidates.

“Today’s remarks I do think are important because it’s the beginning of that framing,” said Jason Miller, a top adviser to Trump. His pitch will be delivered in full at a planned rally at Madison Square Garden in one week, Miller added.

There was little, though, to differentiate Trump’s remarks from dozens of speeches he has delivered over the course of the campaign. He railed against migrants and the mental competency of his opponents. He complained about the legal cases against him as an ex-president and the investigation into Russian election interference that dogged the early years of his presidency.

Saturday’s erratic display — performed in front of a smaller-than-usual crowd that lacked energy during the preprogram — comes on the heels of a series of recent appearances that have deviated from expectations.

Trump’s Friday rally in Detroit notably failed to fill the venue his campaign booked, and when he took the stage, the former president was interrupted by technical issues with his microphone. Trump stood awkwardly by the lectern waiting for it to get fixed and then vowed to stiff the contractor that provided the sound system.

Earlier in the week, Trump decided to stop fielding questions at a town hall after a member of his audience suffered a medical episode. Instead, he called out songs to be played over the sound system as he swayed and waved his arms on the stage and then left after 40 minutes without taking any more questions.

The incidents played into recent attacks from Harris and her allies, who have argued Trump has grown unhinged and less stable in the final days of the race. They have also seized on Trump’s decision to cancel high-profile interviews with “60 Minutes” and CNBC as evidence that the former president’s travel schedule has caught up to the 78-year-old former president.

Speaking in Detroit on Friday, Trump pushed back against the suggestion he has lost a step.

“I’ve gone 48 days now without a rest and I’ve got that loser who doesn’t have the energy of a rabbit,” he said.

The next day in Latrobe, he spoke for about an hour and 40 minutes — a public demonstration of his capacity to soldier on.

Still, Trump looked ahead to the moment when he could put his third White House bid in the rearview mirror.

“We’ve been through so much together, Trump said. “The finish line is finally in sight.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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